Rabbi Haim Weinraub

By S. M.

Translated by Jessica Cohen

He was the last in a generation of talmidei hachamim
and scholars in Buczacz, who gave it the reputation of being a town of
Torah experts and scholars. Born in Kalush in 5623. At the age of 17 he
married Pia, nee Anderman, and moved to her hometown of Buczacz. Here,
in an atmosphere soaked in knowledge and wisdom, he found satisfaction
in continuing his studies, and set aside time to study Torah. He would
sit in the old Beit Midrash, finding pleasure in the rare and valuable
books it housed. He soon began to offer his extensive knowledge to others
in that Beit Midrash. Every Shabbat, for many years, he lectured on the
weekly portion, and on Shabbat evenings taught Moreh Nevukhim [Maimonides
Guide to the Perplexed] and Akedat Yitzhak. His words were imbued with
knowledge and skill. Being blessed with a wonderful memory, he was able
to pepper his lectures with witty phrases and the everyday talk of talmidei
chachamim. He drew and fascinated an audience of listeners, who became
his followers. His Bible commentary, which was published in 5699, was lost
in the Nazi Holocaust. He educated his sons in the national spirit. He
died in Buczacz in the year 5699. His eldest son, Matityahu, an enthusiastic
champion of the Hebrew language and preacher of Zionism among the youth,
and his daughter Prima, both died as martyrs at the hands of the Nazis.
His son Shaul, an activist in the Hitachdut, Poel Hatzair and Tzeirei Zion
and a leader of the Jewish community in Vienna, and his son Michael, live
in Israel.

[Page 211]

Rabbi Yakov Leib Alfenbein

By Efraim Alfenbein

Translated by Jessica Cohen

More should be said of my father, of blessed memory,
Rabbi Yakov Leib Alfenbein, who was an enthusiastic Zionist in his youth,
even before the Zionist movement existed and before Herzl’s The Jewish
State appeared. I will briefly mention the founder of the first Zionist
association in our town of Buczacz (the Zion association), the establisher
of the Safa Brura [clear language] society, and the founder of the
Hebrew school of the same name, and I shall outline some of the features
of his life.

As the president of Safa Brura, my father, of blessed
memory, often spoke with the children who learned in the Hebrew school,
and encouraged them to love the Hebrew language and Eretz Yisrael. The
parents of these youngsters, mostly from the Haredi circles, objected to
this and complained to my father, saying that he was a negative influence
on them and that they would deviate from the proper path because of him.

And some complained to him: what use is it for you to
awaken others to fulfill the mitzvah of settlement, when you yourself do
not fulfill it? To this my father, of blessed memory, would reply: I
belong to the generation that must prepare itself in the diaspora, to go
to Israel and build it. Even so, he intended to make aliya, but he fell
ill and passed away.

And indeed, his influence on these young schoolchildren from
Safa Brura was evident. Despite the objection of their parents, some
thirty of them made aliya after World War I, comprising the first large
group of immigrants who went to Eretz Yisrael from Buczacz.

* * *

In 1921, as is known, Keren Hayesod was established. At
that time, I was able to donate a respectable sum of money to the fund
(25,000 korona), and I told my father, of blessed memory, about my donation
from the city of Vienna, where I then resided. My father, who returned
to Buczacz after World War I, responded to my letter, saying amongst other
things:

Your letter telling me that, thank God, you have donated 25,000
crowns to Keren Hayesod, breathed life into me, for I realized that you
have a Jewish heart and you know the soul of our faith and that you wish
to fulfill your obligation to our nation and our country. At once I said:
a son of Israel – if he refuses to give a tithe for the construction of
our country, he is an apostate to his people and his country. Even if he
prays every day according to the law and sways forward and back as is customary,
but if he opposes the construction of our land, his prayer is idolatry.
For the time has come to build our land and plant our vineyards…

My father, of blessed memory, was highly educated, a talmid
chacham and a Hassid. His entire life was dedicated to Zionist and Hebrew
activity, and to Jewish-national work in our town (he worked hard, and
under difficult conditions, for the Jewish candidates in the elections
for the Austrian Parliament).

Until his final day, he took an interest in the
building of Israel and a few hours before his death he asked a friend who
was visiting him: Tell me, how many people made aliya this month?

During his old-age too he was very active in favor of the Zionist idea,
and knew how to enthuse younger people as well, for he himself remained
young in spirit.

[Page 212]

About Several Figures in Our Town

Translated by Adam Prager

I would like to mention in these lines the names of noble figures of the
last few decades, the last generation before the destruction of Buczacz.
They excelled in that the foundation stone of their lives was the integration
of Torah with worldliness [tov tora im derekh-erets’]. The daytime was
devoted to business and the night to Torah. I have already referred above
to Reb Osher, Reb Yanay, and Reb Ayzik, the three pillars of the Old Study
House. To their names I would like to add those of householders, humble
individuals, among whom were authors of books such as Reb Zeev Pohorila
[1],
Reb Abraham Riblin [2],
and just plain Torah scholars like Reb Mendele Hornstein, Reb Mordechai
Shpilberg [3],
Reb Yudl Shapiro, my older brother Reb Abraham Jonah Neuman
[4],
Reb Sholem Mordechai Czaczkes [5], Reb Leibush Glantser [6] and others.

In his old age Rabbi Leibush Glantser served as dayan in the religious court
of Buczacz. Back

[Page 214]

Two Figures

Translated by Adam Prager

Zionism in its first days in our town (during the years 1894/95) was a
youth movement. It consisted of boys from the bet-hamidrash [study house]
and youth from bourgeois homes; later on it was joined by student youth.
Among this youth two older prominent figures stood out.

One was the first chair of our town’s Zion Society, founded in the year
1894  the venerable and honorable Reb Hershele Shtern, (of blessed memory).
He was an educated man with a deep knowledge of the Bible; he was much
involved in communal life and wore a long white beard. An enthusiastic
Khovev Tsiyon [‘Lover of Zion’], he brought up his sons to be enlightened
Zionists in a religious-national spirit. He wielded great influence on
all of us.

The small branch of the Shtern family also included Reb Hershele Shtern’s
sons Meir Haim and Abba, and his brother Israel Solomon, who has family
in Israel.

The second was a Hasid in every respect. Mr. Jacob Leib Alfenbein (the
uncle of Mordechai Shenhavi from Mishmar HaEmek) was highly knowledgeable
in the Torah and a respected householder. His love for Zion was as intense
as a sacred flame. Following the Balfour Declaration, he wholeheartedly
proclaimed that every Jew must immediately sell his property and emigrate
to Eretz Yisrael. He actually carried out his belief. He intentionally
sold his house and the one belonging to his relative Reb Reuben Leib Pohorila
(two high-story houses) to gentiles, for Jews must leave for Israel. He
received a worthless amount for them due to the inflation, but all was
for the purpose of emigrating with his family to Eretz Yisrael. Unfortunately
he fell ill and died at the age of seventy, his aspiration unfulfilled.
When I visited him before his death he asked how many Jews were in Eretz
Yisrael at the time. After telling him there were about 80 thousand Jews
there, he replied in low spirits that he was convinced that in the years
to come there would be a Jewish majority in the Land of Israel.

With the verse And the sons shall return to their lands, he passed
away in the year 1924.

* * *

I am fulilling my duty by erecting a sacred memorial and a marker for
the memory of a pure soul, one in thousands, my most learned teacher, Rabbi
Samuel Issachar Shtark, of blessed memory, who was a dayan [rabbinical
judge] in Buczacz. I studied under him for three years. He wrote several
important books in a beautiful style, Minkhat Oni (‘Gift of Suffering’)
on the Talmud, Avney Shayish (‘Stones of Marble’) on the Torah [Shayish
‘marble’ is an acronym of his name Samuel Issachar Shtark], Petakh HaTeyva
(‘Portal of the Ark’) on Seyfer Teyvat-Guma and others. Among his pupils
were the Chief Rabbi of Italy, Dr. Sh. Margoliuth of Florence, the son
of Reb Jonah Margoliuth of Bresni. My teacher Rabbi Samuel Issachar, possessed
a phenomenal memory. He knew the entire Talmud by heart. If a passage in
a tractate was read to him, he immediately cited the page on which it was
found. In his old age he was invited to fill the imposing post of Head
of the rabbinical court in Vizhnits, Bukovina. May his memory be blessed.

Translated by Adam Prager

A.

Who was Dik and what was his history? As one of his students and friends
I shall try to portray him in general terms. He was born in Buczacz. In
his youth he studied horticulture in Germany where he attended a seminary,
after which he became a teacher for one year at the Jewish Colonization
Association [ICA] agricultural school in Slovodka. My friends and I attended
the school between the years 1905-1908.

As to the question which teacher was the most memorable and influential,
the answer would be unanimous: Shlomo Dik. What was the secret of his success
and influence upon us? We had many teachers and some may even have been
better. However, he was exceptional in his devotion to his students and
their problems. We concealed nothing from him, be they the most intimate
and personal matters or simply issues concerning our studies. One could
always find in him a sympathetic listener, one willing to offer true help.
He had one aim in life for which he strove tirelessly in all that he did:
Drawing Jewish youth closer to nature, which he loved and had a great knowledge
of. The surroundings. with their dense forests, streams and fields were
of great help, and he knew how to take advantage of every element and
opportunity
with utmost efficiency in order to attain his goal. He wasn’t satisfied
in teaching a vocation alone; he wanted Jewish youth to regain their identity
and self-esteem as human beings as well as Jews.

This was the period of the pogroms in Russia and some pogrom attempts
were also made in Galicia. I shall never forget Dik’s words when he demanded
we be prepared to aid the Jews who lived in the Jewish town of Kolomea,
which feared an onslaught. He warned us not to be provoked into attacking
anyone, but to demonstrate our right and duty as Jews and human beings
to defend ourselves from any assault. He would include in his words historical
facts of how the Jews used to defend themselves and their land and showed
his disdain for Jewish submission in the diaspora in more recent times.

Dik also knew how to show his young students that only cooperative and
organized forces could achieve substantial progress in the present and
in the future. He was the first to organize a student board by which students
could tend to their own affairs, with special committees that dealt with
cultural, professional, and legal matters. Success here led to his request
that students be allowed to take an active part in their institution generally.
Here, too, he was successful, even though the rest of the teachers, who
believed in a different kind of educational system, tried to lay obstacles
in his way.

The ideas of Dik, the teacher and educator, provoked much opposition.
His fellow teachers, as was mentioned above, opposed his approach to education.
Nevertheless, he remained fearless and undeterred. The conflict reached
its peak when senior officials from the Jewish Colonization Association
[ICA] in Paris decided that the level of studies and cultural activities
for the boys must be reduced to that of the farmers in the area. For only
such men can be farmers. Contrary to their views, Dik wanted the range
of education to be expanded; he wanted students to learn the latest scientific
developments in the field of agriculture, to improve work methods by means
of modern machinery, to deal with eradicating pests, etc.

His ambition was to prove to the Jews that it was possible to live from
farming and to do so on a much higher level than that enjoyed by the neighboring
farmers and the Jews with their luft (‘air’) occupations. We students
felt that the dispute concerned our lives and our future, therefore we
organized and supported him with all our might. He succeeded in canceling
the edict from Paris.

It can be said with great satisfaction that from all the classes under
Solomon Dik’s tutelage over 80% stayed in the field of agriculture
(unfortunately, they are scattered all over the world), an achievement that no other
agricultural school can claim.

Dik, who dreamed of a wider educational purpose for the Jews of that
generation, went to complete his agricultural studies at a university in
Berlin. Upon completing his studies he was offered the position of principal
at the Jewish agricultural school in Steinhurst, Germany. Here too he met
with great difficulties. Once again the dispute concerning system and goal
arose. And again he encountered narrow-minded employers, giving him no
choice but to leave.

Dik started to manage private and communal farms in Germany. He succeeded
in reviving and re-organizing abandoned farms, which was met with wonder
and admiration among experts. He was very happy that he could give Jewish
youth from east and west a chance to learn the practical features of the
agricultural profession on these farms.

His connection with Jewish youth and agriculture and his aim of bringing
them together led him to Oppenheimer, to the latter’s method, and to Zionism.
The ninth Zionist Congress decided to establish a cooperative association
at Merchavia. It was to be run according to Professor Oppenheimer’s system
under Dik’s management. Dik immediately contacted his students from Slovodka
for this purpose. A few of us (including me) went to Erets-Yisrael prior
to the founding of the association in order to study the special local
conditions. With Dik’s arrival in Erets-Yisrael, and with the aid of a
number of workers from the Galillee settlements, the foundations of the
cooperative at Merchavia were laid.

This is not the place to unfold the story of the founding of Merchavia.
I would only like to say that of all the settlements that were founded
after it, not a single one experienced such hardships as Merchavia did
during its first eight years. I will mention just a few details: about
100 young men and women, most of whom infected with various types of malaria,
and about 50% to 80 % bedridden and unable to work during the most important
work season, in the most primitive hospital situated in shacks swarming
in every corner with fleas, scorpions, snakes and rats. True, the neglected
fields were plowed with the latest machinery at the time, for there were
neither tractors nor combines then. There was hardly any water; at times
one had to literally fight over each and every drop. We were isolated in
a savage environment surrounded by bandits and enemies. As if it were not
bad enough not to receive any aid from the government, the same government
made life even more difficult by false accusations and arrests, confiscation
of our crops and work animals, killing of cows, confiscation of houses
for the use of the army, etc., etc.

Each and every one of us, especially Dik, contributed as much as he
could to the project. In addition to his vast professional knowledge he
continued to learn from our neighbors and from Aharonson, of blessed memory,
in Atlit. He introduced new plant species, a seed cycle and insecticides.
He taught and trained the members, developed relations with neighbors and
government, caught malaria and suffered with the rest of us. However, the
extremely difficult conditions weakened the spirits of the members. After
4 years of strenuous work Dik left Merchavia, hoping to hear good news
from afar. However, the war broke out, bringing an end to his hopes and
ours.

Dik believed in and instilled in us the belief in cooperation as a system
and a way of life. To this belief we added enthusiasm and devotion.
Unfortunately,
the combination of all the obstacles nature introduced, the neighbors and
the government was stronger. By the end of the war our cooperative had
been eight years in the making. We were both mentally and physically broken
and exhausted, weak and low spirited. Eight of our members were gone, having
died or been killed. The farm was in ruins with no water, tools, animals
and all the conditions necessary for any kind of development.

Dik returned to Germany and continued with settlement activity according
to the Oppenheimer system as well as manage other farms. He participated
in Zionist Congresses and other public Jewish projects, appreciated and
honored by those around him. In 1935 Dik came to Erets-Yisrael, and at
the invitation of Dr. Ruppin, of blessed memory, prepared a report on various
Jewish agricultural settlements and presented suggestions for new settlements
and for the expansion of existing ones. He was against leaving things to
chance and insisted on accurate and organized planning in dealing with
the settlements as well as having the appropriate equipment and training.
He was against monoculture in agriculture, and against the extreme kibbutz
system. He hoped and believed that the extreme cooperative kvutsa and the
extreme individualistic moshav would meet in cooperation; all this prevented
him from living in Israel and contributing his priceless experience and
devotion to our endeavor.

He left the country a bitter man and took an active part in the effort
to save Jews from the Nazi Hell, but he himself could not escape the crater
which was to swallow up a large part of our people. Far off in a foreign
land, away from his country and friends, Dik met his death. We can but
praise those first steps of his which, though they failed, constituted
the basis for the new agricultural settlements and their prosperity.

G. Gafner

Endnotes

7. The Encyclopaedia Judaica in one instance spells his name Salmon Dyk.
Back

B.

He was born in Buczacz in the year 1884. After graduating from the teachers’
seminary he studied agriculture in Germany at a horticulture school in
Dahelm near Hanover and at the agricultural academy in Berlin. At that
time he developed a deep friendship with his teacher at the academy, Professor
Franz Oppenheimer. He was appointed manager of the newly-founded cooperative
farm in Merchavia, where Professor Oppenheimers’ sociological ideas were
to be tested. He filled this important post for a few years during the
most difficult period in the early Zionist settlement of the then wild
Jezreel Valley. In the summer of 1914 he left for a convalescence vacation
in Europe and due to the First World War was detained in Germany, where
he lived and worked for 20 years till the rise of the Nazis.

In Germany he achieved great success and recognition in his field: as
manager of the agricultural estate near the well known copper factory owned
by the Jewish Hirsch family, as government inspector of the estates belonging
to the former German Kaiser, and as a well known assessor for the major
mortgaging banks. He was a Jew with a deep national-Zionist awareness.
He was proud of his Jewish first name and of his eastern Galician origin
and continued to be so when the Nazis rose to power.

During all of his stay in Germany he furthered the work of the Zionist
Organization, especially in the field of agricultural training. He served
as an expert in the London Committee in 1920 and at the Zionist Congress
in Prague. He published articles and held lecture series on agricultural
and settlement subjects.

A short while after the Nazis were well established, he left Germany
and in 1934 he emigrated to Israel. Here he acted on behalf of the settlement
department of the Jewish Agency. preparing reports on kibbutzim, moshavot,
etc.

In 1937 he visited Madagascar as a member of the delegation appointed
by the Polish government to investigate the possibility of settling Jews
there. For a similar purpose but on behalf of a Dutch settlement company
he toured Dutch Guiana.

These two trips affected his health and forced him to stay for some
time in France to recover. Thus he was stranded in France when World War
Two broke out and it was there that he died of a malignant disease at the
beginning of 1944.

Dr. Baruch (Bernard) Farnhof

By Dr. Y. Farnhof

Translated by Jessica Cohen

Born in 1869 in Buczacz; awarded the degree of
Doctor of Jurisprudence from the university in Lvov; participated in the
First Zionist Congress as a Buczacz representative; was an attorney for
more than 40 years, a few of them in the oil town of Drohobycz, where he
founded the Beit Ha’Am and was very active in strengthening the Zionist
movement, and the rest of the time in Stanislaw. For decades, he was a
very active member in the temple committee in Stanislaw, and was its leader
until the Nazi Holocaust in 1939. Devoted his best efforts to the temple
and left his mark on it: as a proclaimed Zionist, it was not easy for him
under those conditions, but due to his pure character, his honest ways,
his respectable status in the town and his personal merits, his spirit
was very noticeable within the walls of the temple. Was active in the Bnei
Brith organization in Stanislaw and filled important posts in it.

Visited Eretz Yisrael in 1932, 1934 and 1937, spending the time from
Purim until after Pesach with his family (his son made aliya as a pioneer
in 1930).

The Second World War put an end to his plans to
make aliya and settle down in Israel, and he met his death in Stanislaw,
when the Nazis began annihilating the Jews.

[Page 220]

Dr. M. Hirschhorn

By Y. F.

Translated by Jessica Cohen

One of Buczacz’s fine and loyal sons was Dr. Mordechai Karniel
(or as we all knew him, Dr. Motzik Hirschhorn). He interacted with others,
knew everyone and was known by all. From all the young doctors of his time
he was the one who began to take an interest in the hospital in Buczacz,
and after Dr. Nacht left his post, he became the medical director of the
hospital. Although the patients and the hospital management were sometimes
under the impression that he was not particularly courteous, they always
found out that he had been right and that he had acted out of a sense of
truth and realism. Dr. Hirschhorn invested great efforts in developing the
hospital, and introduced some arrangements and innovations which elevated
its standing until even the authorities recognized it and used it in times
of need. Consistently and untiringly, he dedicated himself to developing
this institution, which was one of the town’s finest welfare institutions.

Dr. Hirschhorn was a popular man, and loved the masses. Many told
of how when he had been in Russia and other countries, before coming to
Israel, he asked about Buczaczers everywhere he arrived, asked after their
fate and helped them as much as he could.

After the destruction he suffered, after the wanderings, he established
a new home for himself, and shone with hope.

This sturdy man, whose spirit never fell under any of life’s
circumstances  is no more.

[Page 220]

Outstanding Women in Our Town

By D. N.

Translated by Jessica Cohen

As long as one-hundred years ago in our town
of Buczacz, even in orthodox circles and among the landlords, there were
some prominent noble figures of women who were Torah scholars, philosophers
and progressive thinkers. In my opinion, they had a significant influence
on several of their sons, in whom the spirit of progressive education began
to glow.

I shall mention the educated woman Golda Gottfried, who was born
in approximately 1820, the mother of Rabbi Haim Gottfried, who shared the
views of our townsman the well-known professor Dr. David Heinrich Miller,
a classic linguist at Vienna University. This woman used to study Mishnah
with the commentaries just like a man, and would talk enthusiastically
about the Alshich and Bina Le’Etim commentaries on the Torah.

In my opinion, a great influence on the upbringing
of the daughters of this generation was the talmid chacham who disseminated
wisdom and knowledge among the youth, particularly among the young women
of the town from wealthy families : the teacher Rabbi Michal Baer, of blessed
memory. It is said of him that he was a wise and sensible man, and influenced
the youth of his time, especially the girls. I had the privilege of knowing
some of his female students, namely Shindl Segal and her sister Tova Neuman,
and my mother Sarah Leah Neuman. I can testify that they were well-versed
in the Torat-Chesed of Rabbi Michal Baer. In their daily talk they would
always intersperse verses from the Book of Proverbs and Isaiah, with sayings
from classics such as Goethe, Schiller and others.

This circle of intellectual women was influential
in its time during the first Austrian Parliament elections in the
Buczacz-Kolomia
district, in 1886. After a stormy battle, the well-known Jewish candidate
Dr. Josef Shmuel Bloch was chosen, rather than the assimilated candidate
Dr. Bik from Lvov, who was supported with force by the government. He was
the first in the Austrian Parliament to appear on a public stage, on his
own accord, against Jewish assimilators, as a defender of all Jewish issues,
especially the affairs of Galician Jews. He put up a fight against the
Viennese anti-Semites, such as Leuger, Schneider and others. He played
a large part in the success against the blood libel court case in Tiszaeszlar,
Hungary, and in his war against the dictator Prof. Rohling, a friend of
the Habsburg monarchy. His German Book, Rohling Kontra Bloch, made a great
impression in its time.

Among the women who were active during those elections
were my mother Sarah Leah Neuman and Shindl Segal. They took action against
the government authority and won – a rare case at that time. They also
founded a women’s society called Ezrat Nashim, which was active for several
decades in the field of mutual assistance.

Among the Buczacz women at that time, the fine personality
of Shindl Segal was especially prominent. She was born in roughly 1848
and died in 1936. She was a philosopher, studied Hebrew, read and collected
many books. In the weekly Ha’Am, published in Kolomia by the writer
Silberbusch,
she wrote a few articles about Women in Israel. She told me proudly of
her visit with the author Peretz Smolenskin in Vienna, how she spoke with
him in Hebrew, using complete sentences. She was widowed at a young age
and worked hard to bring up her only son, a talented boy, until he grew
older and went to study at the university in Vienna. There, he was one
of the first members of the student society Kadima, founded by Dr. Herzl.
However, as fate would have it, his life ended tragically before he finished
his studies. And so, as a mourning mother, she descended into her grief.

And finally we should mention the noble soul Chaya
Roll, who passed away, to our great regret, before her time.

[Page 222]

Memorable Women

By D. D. P.

Translated by Jessica Cohen

Buczacz was among the less advanced towns in
terms of industry and economy. The number of people requiring assistance
was great, especially during the winter months. The distress was so great,
that they were unable to obtain even food, and had to emigrate or become
destined to require the perpetual assistance of merciful citizens. The
distress would increase on Shabbat and holiday evenings. Many had to go
from door to door on Shabbat asking for bread, which was given to them
customarily, and served as food for the whole week. Apart from this, the
poor used to go to the stores every Friday, asking for a half a penny to
meet their needs, in addition to bread.

This grave economic state, which came close to real
hunger, was fully understood by Regina Reiss, an attorney’s wife, who founded
a soup-kitchen as early as 1890, where the town’s poor received a free
breakfast and a nutritious lunch for 2 pennies. On Fridays, the meal included
meat as well. Apart from this, the poor schoolchildren (from the Baron
Hirsch school) received food for free.

In order to obtain the essential financial means
to provide this welfare assistance, Mrs. Reiss founded a women’s society,
whose members paid an annual fee and distributed meals at the soup-kitchen,
on a rotating duty. Furthermore, she managed to interest many of the landowners
and lessees in the area and influence them to provide the kitchen with
potatoes, cabbages and other products. A tradition was also created whereby
the wealthy citizens would mark the holidays and family celebrations by
donating lunches for the poor through the kitchen.

Thanks to Mrs. Reiss’ organizational talent, the
soup-kitchen operated until the war broke out in 1914 – under her personal
management and with the great assistance of Shmuel Teller. The soup-kitchen
was an act of charity for the poor, the hungry and their children, for
whom the kitchen provided warm meals, and which should be viewed as Mrs.
Reiss’ great merit.

In addition to Mrs. Reiss, who excelled in alleviating the shame
of hunger, we should remember Mrs. Paula Marengel and Clara Gross, wives
of attorneys, who were especially devoted to the orphanage which was established
after the war. Only thanks to their tireless activity did the orphanage
exist until the Second World War broke out, and it served as a house for
orphaned and abandoned children. The few residents of the orphanage who
are still alive fondly remember the righteous activists and their great
dedication.

To our knowledge, these women are no longer alive:
Paula Marengel was delivered to the murderers by the farmer in whose house
she was hiding, while Mrs. Gross was murdered during an aktion, along with
many hundreds of prisoners. It is said that this courageous woman found
the strength to encourage the other women and young girls, at the verge
of a tragic end, as they stood by the open grave which they themselves
had dug: Be strong, do not be afraid, for the moment is approaching when
our torture and punishment will end.

One woman who excelled in the field of political activism
should be remembered. This was Mrs. Elsa Peller, the doctor’s wife. She
began her political activity in Lvov, moved to Buczacz, where she used
her wealth of talents and experience. This was in 1905. First, she set
herself the goal of awakening a Jewish, national and Zionist spirit among
the women of the town. Her first step was the foundation of Rachel, a
society in which she developed a network of activity, gave lectures on
national topics and arranged lectures on other topics. Over the course
of time she acquired a large number of members in the society, who continued
the activity, and became an important factor in the Zionist life in town.
After the First World War the women’s club Wizo continued the Zionist
activity under the leadership of Chaya Roll, Betty Medwinski and others.

Mrs. Peller represented a completely new type of woman in public
life. While the other intellectual women were especially understanding
of welfare assistance and the humanitarian needs of the day, with no
understanding
of the Jewish-national problems, she would reveal the courage to awaken
Jewish-national life among the women in town, and bring them closer to
the Zionist questions. And that was her exclusive merit.

[Page 223]

My Brother, Shmuel

By Dr. Mordechai Karnieli

Translated by Jessica Cohen

My brother Shmuel was born in 1901 in Buczacz in Eastern Galicia.
Our father was a great merchant and a prominent figure, active in public
affairs and involved in the life of the town. The family’s wealth enabled
upbringing and education for all the members of the household, beyond the
borders of the town. Shmuel, who had a weak constitution, received prolonged
treatments in Lvov and Vienna.

Our house was filled with a Zionist and traditional spirit. Grandfather,
of blessed memory, was a learned and observant Jew, loved and respected
by his peers. Our father was a man of action and business, in keeping with
the spirit of the times, and was considered a progressive. As a result,
there was a more liberal spirit and a keen approach to Zionism and Eretz-Yisrael
in our home.

In this family atmosphere, Shmuel was raised and educated. He
studied in the town high-school and then continued in the Stanislaw town
district. There, he joined the Shomer movement, where he first accepted
the Eretz-Yisrael idea as his destiny.

The world war broke out. In 1916 the family moved to Vienna,
due to the Russian invasion. He continued to study there, and was
enthusiastically
involved in the movement, taking part in the founding committee of Hashomer
Hatzair in Vienna in 1917.

When he returned to Buczacz he brought with him a new spirit
and initiated Zionist activity among the youth. Due to this activity he
was expelled from the school, together with his friends. Shmuel and his
friends drew a conclusion from this event, founded a hachshara group and
began agricultural work. Shmuel had an affinity with farming work. During
his childhood, he would often visit the agricultural farms leased by our
father, and would show an interest in the work.

Shmuel decided to make aliya, to work in Eretz-Yisrael. He trained
himself in carpentry too, and this was his first job in Israel.

In July of 1920 he left the town with a group of 30, intending
to make aliya. They had no passports or other papers. They had many trials
and tribulations. They crossed the Poland-Czechia border as smugglers,
and had to remain in the country for several weeks, anonymously. They were
often in danger of being caught by the authorities, but thanks to the community
they were finally transferred to Vienna, and made their way from there
to Israel, with many adventures and obstacles.

In September 1920 he arrived in Israel, from here on he began
a life of work and creation, society and economy.

During the 28 years of his life in Israel, he visited family
overseas twice. As happy as he was to visit us, he was eager to return
to his farm and his kibbutz. He had no doubts in this regard. In the same
way he had started his path, he followed it with no deviations. The path
he had begun became the king’s way, which he followed until that bitter
day, when he was hit by enemy fire and fell dead.

[Page 224]

Meir Fried

By M. H.

Translated by Jessica Cohen

The son of Zvi and Chana Fried. Killed in December
1948 in the battle of al-Faluja, his traces never found.

Born in 1929 in Buczacz. At the age of 3 he was brought to Eretz
Yisrael by his parents. An alert and sensitive child was Meir from his
youth. In his father’s house, imbued with the spirit of Torah and love
of the land, he absorbed the values of Judaism and general humanistic ideals,
which left their mark on him in all his future endeavors.

At a young age he was required to assist his parents,
and already showed diligence and a love of work.

At the age of 15 he joined the Hagana and was aware
of all the troubles of the time.

During the agitation in the Yishuv during and following
the establishment of the state, he enthusiastically took on the duties
he was given, and was always first to answer any call.

After being injured in his neck in one of the battles,
he was given a recovery leave, but he did not use this leave and returned
to his friends at battle, where he was killed.

[Page 225]

Emanuel Ringelblum in the Warsaw Ghetto

By Dr. Nathan Eck

Translated by Jessica Cohen

A.

Ringelblum achieved his success, as is known, with the lauded enterprise which
he founded in the Warsaw Ghetto  the underground archives, of which he
was the initiator and creator. These archives housed thousands of certificates
and documents, descriptions and studies, written by dozens of people whom
Ringelblum activated, guided and presided over their labor. In the midst of the
days of destruction and the confiscation, the archives were buried and after
the war some of them were found and raised from beneath the ashes, and they are
now preserved in Warsaw. This historical material is now considered one of the
main sources for the history of the period.

But during the war, Ringelblum did not view his scientific work as the primary
endeavor, at least not during the first two years of the Nazi occupation. At
that time, he valued above all his public, practical work, and fully believed
that his name would be recalled in history thanks to this work, for the
circumstances placed him in the center of public activism from the beginning of
the war. Ringelblum would recall that first period occasionally during later
conversations. He would tell proudly and enthusiastically of the important
activity which he and his friends carried out in the besieged and bombed Warsaw
in September, 1939, when they would provide aid to the casualties and the
needy, and provide shelter for the refugees and the burn victims, while being
bombarded with bullets and bombs. The aid committee which was established at
that time, during the great bombardment, became over the course of time the
main aid institution in the Warsaw Ghetto, known as Yidische Sociale
Aleinhilf (Jewish Self Assistance).

We worked together in that institution, in the public works sector
which Ringelblum directed. The sector's duty was to be in constant touch with
the Jewish population and to help it organize self-assistance. For this
purpose, we divided the city of Warsaw (later, the Ghetto) into a series of
areas, and established a local bureau of our institution in each area, and in
each house there was a committee of residents. The public sector recruited
hundreds of activists from all over the town  later, the Ghetto 
and would conduct meetings, gatherings and many consultations. The sector's
headquarters  which were housed, for most of the time, in the community
library building on Tlomeczka Street  quickly became a public gathering
place and a sort of stock exchange of information and rumors.
Whoever wanted to meet acquaintances, hear about the goings-on in the capital
and the provincial towns, or pick up secret information about the situation on
the fronts and in the world, would come to this place. Here, the mass
gatherings could easily be justified to the Germans, because we could always
claim that the crowds of people were there to seek assistance.

Word of this place reached the provincial towns too, and when a Jewish man from
there happened to come to Warsaw (at that time only a few Jews would travel
from one town to another), he would always remember to go to the
sector. And if he brought important news from his hometown, they
would immediately usher him into Ringelblum's room to impart the news. On such
occasions, Ringelblum would convene the head workers of the sector in his room
(L. L. Bloch, Y. Torkow, Starowinski, N. Ack and others), so that they could
also hear the news. Let us not forget that there were no newspapers for Jews at
that time  the only newspapers we could obtain (illegally) were from the
Nazi press, Jews were forbidden to have radios at home, one could not leave the
house in the evenings, the contact with the world outside the Ghetto was
tenuous. It is no wonder, therefore, that there was much thirst for information
 not only about the occurrences in the world at large, but also of what
was happening in the Polish provincial towns and even in the Warsaw Ghetto
itself.

The work in the public sector gave Ringelblum the opportunity to
meet many Jews on a daily basis, both residents of Warsaw and of the provincial
towns, and to listen to their stories and their descriptions. And when they
learned that this man valued the information and sometimes even recorded what
they told him, they would produce their news for him even more eagerly.
Sometimes they would also bring interesting objects, as proof of the veracity
of their stories. For example, a document attesting to a capricious order
issued by one of the local officers; a bag made of Torah scroll parchment; a
photograph of an unusual act of abuse, and so forth. Ringelblum's great merit
was that he knew how to appreciate the special opportunity which fate had
handed him, and to use it correctly. This public work, then, is what inspired
and enabled him to establish the archives. However, as we have said, the
archives were at first only a secondary activity after his public work. Only
over the course of time, when it transpired that in fact there was no true
benefit from all the activities, since any attempt at an act, any effort, would
be shattered by the evil of the sabotaging oppressor, Ringelblum began to spend
the better part of his time and energy on the historical work. For himself and
his followers  for there were now enthusiastic followers of
his work  this work became a comfort in times of trouble and became the
content of life. It was clear that this labor over preparing historical
material for the next generations had become, for him, an escape from the
tragic vanity of the present reality. Often, as we sat depressed after an
unsuccessful endeavor or a new decree, he would suddenly begin telling the
story of some important document which he had obtained, or some other detail of
his historical work. During those moments, his voice and the expression on his
face were evidence that the man was attempting to find a pillar to lean on in
the midst of his failure  the failure of us all, and he found it and was
strengthened and encouraged by it.

Ringelblum loved conversations and jokes. He loved to listen and to talk. And
above all  he loved to write. His hand never ceased writing notes. He
wrote details of news, segments of ideas and plans, names, rumors and jokes. He
wrote not only when he was alone in his room, but also during conversations
with a friend, a clerk, an activist, during a meeting or a conference, even
when he was the chairman. He would put the notes in his pocket, but would also
leave many of them on the desk in his office, sometimes unwittingly and
sometimes because he considered them unimportant.

Ringelblum's historical endeavor was known, at that time, by the code-name
Oneg Shabbat, and indeed, the archival workers would
normally convene on Shabbat and take pleasure in the progress of their work,
whose details they would impart to one another as they met.

Over the two years during which we worked together in the public
sector, we would meet almost every day, and through conversations with
him I learned various facts about his private life. He told me of the days of
his youth in Buczacz; he told me that in the youth movement, he was under the
leadership of Dr. Zvi Heller; he told of his sister in the Soviet Union. I also
visited him in his apartment, where I met his wife and small son. I sometimes
saw him with his party comrades  Poalei Zion Smol [Left Zionist
Labor]. Incidentally, they respected him very much and were
proud of him, but were not always pleased with him. I once learned the reason
from one of them: he is not enough of a party man, he is innocent,
he is too honest

Ringelblum used to sometimes mislead people who thought to judge him by the
expression on his face and his manner of speaking. Those who did not know him
well might have believed that this was a sedentary man, far from life's tumult,
one who did not know how to manage life. But the truth was that Ringelblum was
not only a quick learner, but also had practical sharpness; he knew not only
how to meditate on the problems of life, but also how to suitably handle their
solutions. During the two years we worked together, I saw how he grew, how his
stature increased during trying times, in face of the difficult tasks he took
upon himself.

His nature was such that he belonged to that group of people who are never
corrupted. In the course of his work, he met with thousands of people from all
walks of life and all types of characters. He saw and knew at that time perhaps
more than any other man of the scum and filth of the Ghetto life, but he was
made of the stuff that nothing of that filth and ugliness could stick to. In
his purity of heart and his honest ways, he was one of the illuminating figures
who brought light to the darkness of the Ghetto and constantly gave it honor
and glory.

Dr. Nathan Eck

[Page 227]

Emanuel Ringelblum

Translated by Jessica Cohen

In the middle of 1944, a name emerged in the Jewish press around the world and
rang out as a melody  Emanuel Ringelblum. The majority of the Jewish
world, who had in any case been as deaf as an adder, remained steadfast in
their deafness. These people could only be awakened by the sound of a blow in
their ears: Heil Hitler! Or: during the transfer to Treblinka. In the ears of the more refined section of the Jewish people, and particularly among the educated Jews of Poland, the
sounds of that name took root as they rang out and became louder until they
were the norm.

In keeping with the pathos of Jewish history, two men lost their lives
together during those years of the vast Jewish holocaust, although not at the
same time and not in the same ghetto. They were the elder of Jewish history,
Shimon Dubnov in Riga, and the youngest of Jewish historians, Dr. Emanuel
Ringelblum in Warsaw. The latter was forty years younger than his teacher.

Soon after the First World War, when Galicia was united with Poland, the
Jewish Galician youth flocked to Warsaw, Bialistok and even Wilna. Galicia had
always had an excess of educated Jews. Before the war, they would migrate to
Vienna and Berlin. Now Berlin and Vienna were cities of scarcity, while Warsaw
offered great opportunities. And so the Galician doctors rushed to the
Asian parts of Poland. With one sweep, they infiltrated the
important positions. And when, in 1930, Y. M. Neiman wished to describe a series
of leading figures in the Jewish institutions in Warsaw, he discovered that
they had all come from Galicia. They were quiet and generous, but would conquer
fortress after fortress.

Who can say what Emanuel Ringelblum thought to himself when he came to Warsaw
in 1922 as a young, shy student. He was not yet even a doctor. I happened to
make note of his first entrance to our authors club. It must have been in 1928.
The crisis, which culminated in the year of the abyss, 1939, had already began.
And here came a tall, upright young man, wearing an artists' beret, his hair
curly and his face the colors of blood and milk, with dimples. He was
constantly becoming embarrassed and blushing, and had a slight stammer. He
wished to join the authors organization. We began talking and I recalled that I
had some acquaintances in his town of Buczacz. I advised him not to stay in
Warsaw. In general, I advised young people to leave Poland, especially Zionists
such as Ringelblum. I almost quarreled with him. I had shaken his innocent
faith, and had seen in him my own faith of a decade prior. Faith that was
proven false. He defended his enthusiasm and faith in the future of Poland
Jewry. He knows better than me; he is a historian. He is not a man of moods, a
poet. We did not fight: Galicians do not fight. But we made some stinging
remarks to each other and bid each other farewell. And from that time onwards,
I sensed an eternal sadness every time I saw Ringelblum. I had already planted
my vineyard and had found that only thistles could grow here. And here comes
this man and once again plants his tender years. He became a member of the
association. He once presented to me, victoriously, the essay The Young
Historian  and after all, 'the young historian' and Ringelblum
became synonymous until the day he died a martyr's death.

And who could have foreseen that Jewish history, of all things, would place
the thorny crown of the Warsaw Ghetto historian on his young head with the
innocent face and dimples  and in the ghetto itself? Not only did he
himself write, he also organized writing and collection of documents. His name
is signed on the last call to the declining Jewish culture in Poland and the
entire Jewish cultural world. And in that final call he recalls that Oswiecim
 one of the greatest sites of murder  was called in the vernacular:
Oshpitsin. And thus he did not forget, even in his final words moments before
his death, to call the town by its name.

December 1934. I left Poland for ever. A hasty meeting. It might have been
near the Paviak, nine steps and nine years away from that same
place and time, when the halo of the youngest tormented-historian hovered above
his head. He berated me for leaving Poland. I replied that I knew better than
him He answered boldly that he knew sevenfold better than me. He knew.

Melech Rawitz

[Page 228]

Dr. Avraham Khalfan

Translated by Jessica Cohen

It was at the beginning of this century, during the early days of the
flourishing of Zionism in Herzl's days. At that time, there was a great
awakening among the youth studying in Galicia. A national organization called
Tzeirei Zion [Zion Youth] was established. Its center was in Lvov,
and the youth leaders of the time were very active in it, university students
such as Avraham Silberstein, N. Karton-Czaczkes, Kofel Schwartz, Yosef
Tenenbaum and others, including the young author and teacher, the late Asher
Barash.

One of the active branches of the organization was in Buczacz. That was where
the gimnasjum youth convened in Zionist clubs under the leadership of A. Silberstein,
Matityahu Weinrab and others. There was a quiet, serious, modest and shy young
man who stood out in our Zionist club, and he diligently studied Jewish studies
and Hebrew: Avraham Khalfan. He had been brought up in a traditional Jewish
home, and we both participated in a special Bible studies lesson in Hebrew,
directed by A. Silberstein. And when the Hebrew school was established and run
by the Eretz Yisrael teacher B. Berkowitz, who lives here with us, we both
learned from him during Hebrew lessons. Apart from Avraham Khalfan and his
sister, Tova, other participants included Zvi Heller and his two sisters, Pnina
and Khaya. Avraham was noted at that time for the deep interest he showed in
his studies.

When he later became a medical student at the university in Vienna, Avraham
joined us in founding a Jewish academic association, HaTkhiya,
which was under the influence of such prominent Jewish activists as Dr. Haim
Tratkover, Dr. Avraham Baruch (then, Rosenstein), mathematician and
meteorologist Yosef Ritzes, poet Avraham Ben-Yitzhak (Soneh), author Zvi
Disendrock, may their memory be a blessing, and Prof. N. Tur-Sinai, Dr. Avraham
Sharon (Schvadron), Dr. A.Y. Brawer and Dr. Efraim Korngrein, may they live
long and prosper. HaTkhiya was at that time the Jewish spiritual
center for the semi-assimilationist Zionists in Vienna, because it was the
first student association in the world where Hebrew was the language of
conversation, lectures, extra-curricular classes in Hebrew literature and
Jewish history, and arguments.

In 1911, A. Khalfan was elected president of the association, due to his
distinguished character and talents. Dr. Benzion Mosinzon, who was visiting
Vienna at the time and lecturing on the Hebrew culture in Eretz Yisrael, was
chosen as an honorary member of the association. In those days there was also
much activity in our association to support the Hebrew language and culture
within other Zionist academic associations, such as Bar Kochba,
Theodore Herzl, Kadima and others.

In 1914 Khalfan completed his studies in medicine and was drafted into the
Austrian army, where he served as a physician until the end of the First World
War.

In 1920 Dr. Avraham Khalfan settled in his hometown of Buczacz, where he was
the town doctor and was later appointed as director of the internal medicine
department in the town hospital. When the Nazis entered Galicia, Dr. Khalfan
endured all the departments of hell which the holocaust brought, he was in a
ghetto and later in the underground. In 1944 he moved to Lodz, where he
directed the lung and X-ray department in the government health fund until 1948.

His great desire to make aliya did not materialize quickly, despite his many efforts and the endeavors of his friends, particularly his nephew here in Israel. He found some consolation in his life-long study of Hebrew literature, which he would read and reread in his
great library in Buczacz, which was destroyed during the holocaust. In 1949 he
managed, together with his wife, to escape the diaspora and make aliya to
the land of his dreams. With him, he brought a Torah scroll which had been
saved from destruction. Here in Israel, he entered a miserable period of
searching for work, despite his training in an important profession. He almost
despaired, for he could not find a sympathetic ear among the authorized persons
and institutions. When he was accepted after many efforts to fulfill a
professional public position as a roentgenologist in the League for the
Prevention of Tuberculosis, first in Haifa and later in Hadera, he found
satisfaction in this job. He devoted all his energy during the day to public
work, particularly to treating the new immigrants. And in the evenings he would
renounce the world outside in favor of the Torah and would meditate on both
religious and secular writings. He would buy books and truly devour them. He
was by nature a matmid [diligent yeshiva student] and
wanted to grasp and acquire all that he
had not been able to acquire while in the diaspora. He was noble spirited and
quiet, but when he lectured he was like a perennial spring. He had a weak and
sensitive heart, and when he lectured on occasion about the holocaust, which he
had experienced first-hand, he would become extremely emotional.

The hard work exhausted his strengths, he became ill with angina, which
hastened his end, and he died on 13 Shvat 5714 [January 17th, 1954].

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